Kickstarter shooter hitting the reset button

Kickstarter indie shooter Takedown rebranded itself with a fresh push, but only had a week to make up the difference in its funding target.

Crowd-sourcing has become a hot topic in recent months, either with independent efforts or through the funding site Kickstarter. But the site isn't a magic pill for all indie developers, and one such studio has reboot its efforts to fund a tactical shooter.

Christian Allen of Serellan LLC addressed the problems with his Kickstarter project, and how he intends to fix it, on Kotaku. For one thing, his project has an actual title now. While before it was just called a "Crowdsourced Hardcore Tactical Shooter," it's now officially named "Takedown."

In his effort to inspire new donations for the second go-round, Serellan commissioned new concept art, a trailer, and partnered with actor Matt Corboy and composer Rich Douglas to promote the project. The new push on Kickstarter began on March 26, but the deadline remained the same.

Serellan's new efforts had a dramatic effect -- but perhaps not dramatic enough. Before the relaunch, it had only achieved $70,000 of its $200,000 goal over the period of almost a month. In only the three days since, that figure has shot up to more than $117,000. But with only three days remaining now, another $80,000 is still a long way to go.

That's the down side of crowd-sourcing, and a step developers have to seriously consider. Whether Takedown makes its target or not, Allen acknowledges some problems with the game's initial pitch. It should serve as an example and cautionary tale to other aspiring indie devs who may be looking at Kickstarter as the golden goose.

Steve Watts

Editor-In-Chief

Steve Watts' youthful memories are are a blur of pixels, princesses, castles, and Mega Busters. After writing about games as a pastime for years, he got his first shot at a paid gig at 1UP. He's freelanced for several sites since then, and found a friendly home at Shacknews. His editorial duties include news, reviews, features, and lunatic ravings. He lives in the Baltimore-Washington area with his shockingly understanding wife.